/r/standup is for professional and amateur standup comedians to discuss comedy theory and technique, talk about the industry, promote local scenes, post original content, give and receive advice, and generally become better at their craft.

A lot of people are funny. Probably even you. What separates stand ups is the ability to convey it. I am learning just how much work that takes and how deceiving it looks.

On WTF Jeselnik spoke about how he worked for Jimmy Fallon and wrote 75 jokes a day. I think he was there for a few years. That is an incredible amount of production. I mean if each joke was roughly 30 seconds then he produced roughly 30 min a day? 2.5 hrs a week, 50 weeks a year means 110 hours of comedy? Ya its not all going to be good, but that is still an enormous amount.

But all we see is how easy he makes it look. How easily he conveys it.

sometime the magic is there, sometimes it isn't... EDIT: by that, I meant to say that some days you will be more creative than others...sometimes you're "on" and sometimes you're not... I've had creative dry spells that lasted years...and have spent very long stretches of time bombing on stage consistently

I'm just starting out, so I'm not the person to be giving advice, but yesterday I was booked for my first pro bill, I was so excited I checked out videos of all the other comedians on the bill. One of those videos was of a guy from 2010 and I didn't find him funny at all, and wasn't expecting much from his set. He did 15 minutes, and stormed it, completely outshining the headline act. I learnt from this that learning what's funny, and becoming funny, comes with gigs and time.

If there's something within you that it's drawn to performing standup, you have the ability to do it. Appreciating the art and realizing it's not easy is a great first step. The people I am most uncomfortable watching on the ones that clearly think they're the funniest person in the fucking world.